Camden New Journal - Letters: London Borough of Camden school places

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Camden New Journal - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published:9 November 2006

Set record straight on school places

• MUCH has been said in your columns in recent weeks about the need for a new secondary school to serve the area south of the Euston Road.
This has been largely because of a well organised and very vocal campaign by parents in that area.
The Lib Dem/Conservative administration in charge of Camden Council has acknowledged the case put by campaigners and has tried hard to find a solution which could form part of our official proposals to the government for funding from the Building Schools for the Future programme.
Readers will know that a site for a new school could not be identified which was large enough; affordable; or available within the timescale of the BSF programme. The campaign I am sure will continue and my colleague Andrew Mennear and myself are happy to continue to meet the campaigners and commit time to seeking a longer term solution for this issue.
However I do think it is appropriate to set the record straight about the need for more school places in the north west of the borough which the south of the Euston Road campaigners have recently attempted to belittle.
The most recent analysis of pupils transferring from primary to secondary schools who get an offer of a Camden school place, based on their ward of residence, certainly supports the case for the area south of the Euston Road. But they make an even stronger case for a school in the north west.
The table (below) sets out the percentage of Year 6 pupils who received an offer of a Camden school place for September 2006.
Noticeably four of the five wards with the lowest percentage of pupils being offered places in Camden schools are placed in the north west - Kilburn, Swiss Cottage, Hampstead and Belsize.
The council is pledged to meeting the needs of its residents and not just the needs of those who shout the loudest.
There is clearly a case for two new schools, but the reality is that we cannot achieve both within the restraints of the BSF programme set by the government.

London Borough Of Camden
Ward	% offered school place
Kilburn 35		Regents Park 67
Swiss Cottage 38		Fortune Green 68
Hampstead 42		Highgate 72
Holborn and Convent Garden 42		Camden Town/Primrose Hill 74
Belsize 49		St Pancras and Somers Town 79
King's Cross 51		Cantelowes 80
Bloomsbury 57		Gospel Oak 82
West Hampstead 63		Kentish Town 82
Froganl and Fitzjohns 64		Haverstock 93

Cllr JOHN BRYANT
Camden Council
Town Hall
Judd Street
WC1

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.